Princess Diana inspired William's latest charity campaign

A documentary will be released about Prince William’s latest initiative to combat homelessness. (AP PHOTO)

Prince William says he was inspired by his mother, Princess Diana, for his latest charity campaign.

The 42-year-old royal was 15 when Diana was killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997, after years of being known for her support of charitable causes.

In a newly released trailer for a documentary called Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, the heir to the British throne revealed how Diana’s philanthropy is still driving him.

“I’ve slowly tried to figure out what I can bring to the role and the platform I have,” he said.

“I took some inspiration and guidance from what my mother did, especially with the homeless.”

William is helping to combat homelessness with his Homewards initiative, and another section of the documentary’s trailer shows him talking to footballer Fara Williams, 40, who has been homeless for six years.

“You played for England and Chelsea while you were homeless,” the prince told Williams in the documentary.

“I don’t believe we should live with homelessness in the 21st century.”

William’s documentary follows Homewards in its first year, as the charity works to demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness.

Launched by William and the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the initiative states that its mission is to make the phenomenon of homelessness “rare, brief and unrepeated” within the next five years.

“Homewards aims to give people across the UK hope that homelessness can be prevented by showing them the progress we can make when we work together,” Prince William said in a statement.

“It’s a big task, but I firmly believe that, by working together, it is possible to make the phenomenon of homelessness rare, brief and unrepeatable, and I look forward to working with our six sites to make our ambition a reality.”

As a child, William and his younger brother Prince Harry, 40, visited homeless charities with their mother as she wanted to expose them to the plight of others who were not born into privilege.

Diana was also a patron of Centrepoint, Britain’s leading youth homelessness charity.